Smartphones are mobile terminals having personal-computer-like capabilities and are becoming widespread. The environment in which smartphones can be coupled to networks all the time is established owing to the expansion of hot spots, for example. Applications that can be executed by smartphones exist in three types, native applications, Web applications, and hybrid mobile applications.
Native applications are of a general form and are application programs created specifically for terminals that execute the application programs. Native applications can basically do whatever they want because they can freely handle local resources and devices of the terminals. Unfortunately, native applications created specifically for terminals involve installation, and therefore developers have to create applications customized for every operating system (OS). Web applications are executed on browsers, and therefore they do not have to be installed in terminals and can be executed independent of the OSs. Unfortunately, Web applications basically work on Web servers, but not on terminals, and therefore their local-resource operations are limited to some operations such as file operation using File API of JavaScript. The operations of Web applications are confined within narrower limits than those of the native applications. Hybrid mobile applications can be created in a development environment, such as PhoneGap or wholesale applications community (WAC). Hybrid mobile applications can be executed independent of the OSs of terminals, like Web applications, and can freely access local resources and devices, like native applications.
Security issues may arise when these applications are executed. One of the main factors is malware, which is spreading among smartphones, and the number of applications including malware is increasing. There are an increasing number of cases where a user installs an application including malware in a smartphone and executes the application. To avoid execution of malware, a user may simply check for a warning regarding access permission that is displayed at the time of installation of an application, and not install the application if access permission unnecessary for originally intended functions of the application is included. This, however, depends on the skill of a user. It is therefore difficult for all users to avoid execution of malware.
Japanese National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2003-507785 is an example of the related art.